Thursday 16 November 2017

There has been a huge growth in all kinds of conspiracy theory in recent years, ranging from claims that the world is being controlled by a secret reptilian elite to allegations that 9/11 was an 'inside job' or that the Apollo moon landings were faked. The role of accident or happenstance in history has been downgraded and replaced by claims that there is 'purpose', planning and manipulation behind everything that occurs - that we are being controlled by 'puppet-masters'. Similarly, so-called 'History' cable channels regularly carry documentaries which rely on fraudulent versions of the past, especially on the origins of humankind. Was there evolution, or were we actually engineered by visiting aliens who also built the pyramids?

Dr. Steve Woodbridge, Senior Lecturer in History at Kingston University, will argue that the conspiratorial mind-set is not new, and that there is quite a historical lineage to recent conspiracy theory. He will also suggest that scholars need to take the more recent growth of conspiracy theory very seriously, as it has increasingly had a disturbing impact on the very nature of historical study.